#1382 is one of forty S-4 class Vauclain compound Ten Wheeler (4-6-0) type locomotives built for the Northern Pacific in 1902 by Burnham, Williams & Co., an early incarnation of the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, PA. As built, it had 15½” x 30” high pressure and 26” x 30” low pressure cylinders, and few Vauclains had such a long stroke.
Like the other S-4s, #1382 probably had a brief initial spell hauling crack passenger services but, as NP’s Q class Pacifics (4-6-2) began to arrive the following year, it would then have been reassigned to branchline freight, mixed and passenger service.
By this time, compounding, other than in Mallets, was also falling out of favour amongst US railroads. The main advantage was claimed to be lower fuel and water consumption, but the arrangements were mechanically complex, Vauclains, in particular, produced uneven forces and excess wear at the crosshead, so increased
maintenance costs largely offset any fuel economies. The
S-4s were consequently superheated and simpled with
21” x 30” cylinders at Northern Pacific's South Tacoma Shops in 1917.
Four Northern Pacific S-4s Class locomotives have survived.
You can see #1356 on the NP #1356 page of this website and #1354 on the NP #1354 page. There are also photos of #1364 undergoing restoration on the Northern Pacific Railroad Museum page
After the rebuild, #1382 weighed 184,850 lbs, 146,000 lbs on its 63” drivers. The engine wheelbase is 26’ 5” and the driver wheelbase
14’ 10”. It has a 49.7 sq ft grate, 155 sq ft firebox, including 28.46 sq ft of arch tubes, and total heating surface of 2,732 sq ft, including 485 sq ft superheating. Operating at a boiler pressure of 200 psi, it delivered 35,700 lbs tractive effort, close to 25% more than as a saturated compound.
#1832 was retired some time in the mid 1950s and donated to the City of Helena, MT. It is on display near the Union Depot in Beattie Park.
